Western Iceland & Into the Glacier Tour

Day 6: We woke up on a high note today after seeing the Northern Lights the night before, and we were not too stressed about time since Scott was headed right into town to get our flat tire replaced. Don’t get me wrong – this was NOT something we wanted to have to deal with – but at least the kids could have more time playing around the house before we set out for the day.

Our original plans for the day included a tour into a glacier cave at 12:30 pm and other various sightseeing in the area. Since we knew the tire replacement would take priority today, we didn’t do any detailed planning the night before since we weren’t sure what time frame we would be working with. As the tire replacement fiasco (detailed in our rental car discussion) took longer and longer, we realized our original glacier tour might not be doable. Fortunately we were able to push our tours to the 3pm time slots. By the time Scott made it back with a new tire, it would have been way too close to attempt to make our original tour.

With the later glacier tour, however, we ended up with some extra time before the tour. Looking at our notes and some helpful recommendations from our AirBnb host, we decided to visit the Hraunfossar and Barnafoss waterfalls, stopping for lunch at the café near their parking lot. These waterfalls are a bit off the beaten path, located far interior from the Ring Road, so this stop was incredibly pleasant with only a handful of other tourists vying for the best views.

Hraunfossar and Barnafoss

Hraunfossar is formed from a series of tiny streams off of a nearby lava field, creating a long, gently cascading waterfall. After some of the more powerful waterfalls we had seen in the past few days, this was certainly a unique sight. It was very cool to see something different from the recent waterfalls and a nice reminder that the loud rushing water wasn’t necessary to be considered a waterfall. Hraunfossar was actually quite peaceful. If we weren’t on a time table, I could have spent more time just watching the water casually falling down the canyon walls.

We had read that the Barnafoss waterfall was close to Hraunfossar but not sure how much of a hike. What a welcome surprise to find out that it was just a couple minutes up river! It was just a short walk along the gravel paths, and wow, what a contrast to Hraunfossar. Barnafoss was much closer to the waterfalls that we had become used to. Water rushing through a narrow canyon, created a powerful image as we walked up to the waterfall. It was hard to believe that this was part of the same river system. The kids were getting antsy and there were few barriers between us and the raging water at Barnafoss (which is never a good combo), so after admiring the view for a bit we started back towards the café’ by the parking lot.

Lunch at the Hraunfossar Café-Restaurant was way beyond our expectations. We could not have enjoyed ourselves more. Most tables were open when we walked in, so we chose a large table near the large windows with a great view of the scenery. Multiple high chairs were available (perfect for A), there were actual honest to goodness community toys for child customers (!!), and ON TOP OF THAT, the cold buffet was free for kids. This was win-win-win and we hadn’t even gotten the rest of our meal yet. We ordered fries for the kids to supplement the buffet offerings. Scott ordered an amazing fish stroganoff dish (which sounded odd at first but gave me major order envy and I might have eaten half of his plate), and I had a fantastic lamb stew.

Since the place was not crowded, we never felt rushed or worried about disturbing anyone. In fact, another family came in shortly after us with a baby ~10 months old and created a makeshift playpen out of overturned chairs in a corner of the restaurant. The staff was incredibly accommodating and friendly and other customers were smiling in appreciation. Things like this just warm my heart. Those of us with kids out in the world are trying to experience new things, but having to balance the needs of our children can make it such a challenge. When places like the Hraunfossar Café give us grace to let the kids be kids, it makes a world of difference and can make or break an entire day. These are the type of memories I will carry with me forever from this trip.

Into the Glacier Tour

There are many ways to get up close experiences with glaciers around Iceland. We opted to go with the Into the Glacier Tour inside a man-made ice cave in the Langjökull glacier. This was the only glacier tour we found where young children were allowed. I think other tours were all in naturally formed caves; therefore, were more risky and difficult to visit.

For our Into the Glacier Tour, we opted to meet the tour at the Langjökull glacier base camp. The other option for our tour was to meet at the visitor center in Húsafell and ride a group bus up to the glacier. Since the weather was still warm enough for the F road to the glacier to be open to the public and since we had 4WD, we opted to drive ourselves up to the base camp. (Certain types of road are closed to public driving once winter weather conditions begin.) Driving ourselves turned out to be a great decision. The road itself was loose gravel and very bumpy. The pace was slow, but we all enjoyed the ride. The scenery was full of – yet again – unique landscape, and we had fun stopping for pictures without any concern about passing traffic (we didn’t see one other vehicle the entire 25 minute drive on the road).

Once we reached the glacier base camp, it felt like we had entered another world. I’m not sure how the fact that we were headed to a GLACIER failed to compute in my brain, but seeing the ice expanse in front of us and *literally feeling* the wind rock our parked car, snapped me into the reality of where we were. The view of the glacier out of the windshield was unbelievable. I asked J, “What is that out there?” J’s response, “the ocean!” Sure did look like it, but nope, kiddo, that is all ICE. The temp buildings and heavy duty vehicles parked around reminded me of what I would expect at maybe an Antarctica outpost or some other science research facility, which surprised me. We learned on the tour that the shrinking glacier is a very real concern, so it’s likely that besides accommodating tour groups, there is plenty of research also conducted here. The tours themselves seem to be effective at raising awareness as well.

Apparently we had beat the bus with the rest of the tour group coming from Húsafell, and they pulled into the parking lot a few minutes after we arrived. It was a good thing that we got there a little early because we were of course scrambling to gather up outer layer gear and with last minute restroom breaks. Because I was really unsure about what to wear, here is my take away: the temperatures are cold – it is an ice cave, so obviously, but there is no wind and the only wetness to be concerned about is damp snow, and some puddles of melting ice. I was perfectly fine in thermal leggings, waterproof boots, and a heavy coat. The kids slipped a lot on the ice, so I am glad that they wore their snow bibs and had a full waterproof layer. Even though the mittens were constantly falling off of their little hands, at least they offered some protection too during the slips and trips.

I should emphasize here how great the Into the Glacier crew was with the kids. It was a bit of a struggle to get ready to leave base camp – every time Scott left the sight of either kid, it was full meltdown mode. The staff gave the kids chocolate milk to help them calm down and played with the kids to distract them. Then they offered chocolate candy as we were about to board the vehicles that would take us to the glacier cave. This is a common theme in Iceland, but our experience on the tour was made so much nicer thanks to the team’s patience and hospitality geared toward the kids.

As soon as we entered the cave, the floor became slippery right away. There were mats to assist in walking, but we still had to help the kids quite a bit. Our first stop in the cave was for everyone to put on a set of crampons over their shoes. They even had kid size crampons. The tour was very interesting (when we were able to listen to the tour guide – managing the kids was tough), and walking through the network of tunnels carved into the glacier was surreal.  The lighting throughout the cave brought out the blue color of the ice and added to the atmosphere. The most challenging aspect was keeping the kids happy. They got bored and restless quickly during each stop, and we were probably a little disruptive to the rest of the group as we tried corral them. We did our best to stay out of the way from everyone else, so hopefully the others were not too bothered. At least it was funny to everyone when A started yelling “ICE!” after being in the ICE cave for like 30 minutes already, as if she had just realized ice was surrounding us.

At the end of the tour, we played some more in the snow, and the kids were excited to climb back into the heavy duty glacier vehicle to get back to base camp. Once again we were happy with our decision to drive ourselves to the base camp because we were able to get straight into our car and head out. The tour itself (leaving base camp, cave tour, and getting back to base camp) took about 2 hours. When booking the tour, we saw that the tour company estimates 4 hours for the tour. This time frame includes the drive to and from Húsafell, which seemed right on target for the people in our tour group that rode the bus from Húsafell. If the weather cooperates and you have a 4WD vehicle, and you are traveling in the warmer months of the year, I would recommend just doing the drive yourself. It was a fun experience making the drive, and it was very convenient to be under our own steam for as much of the time as possible.

By the time we were back in the Borgarnes area, it was already late for the kids, so we rustled up a dinner at the house and settled in for the night. After putting the kids to bed, Scott and I enjoyed the hot tub and started looking out for any Northern Light activity. We were very lucky to see some more of the aurora again this night! I highly recommend staying at a place with a hot tub in Iceland. The hot water vs. chilly air is very comforting, and it is a fun activity for the adults after kid bedtime.